Latest / The Comeback Career Podcast with Fexingo: Returning After a Gap, Stay-at-Home Re-Entry / How to Use a Career Gap to Launch a Portfolio Career
Transcript
- Lucas: When you step away from the workforce for a few years, the default script is usually: 'Okay, time to find a new full-time job.' But there's another path that's gaining a lot of traction, especially since the pandemic rewired how we think about work — and that's the portfolio career. Luna: A portfolio career — so instead of one job, you cobble together several income streams. Freelance work, a side business, maybe a consulting gig or two. Lucas: Exactly. And it's particularly well-suited for someone returning after a gap, because you can ease in, test what works, and build momentum without the pressure of a 40-hour a week commitment from day one. Luna: What's the concrete example you have in mind? I know you mentioned a case study. Lucas: Yeah, let's talk about Priya. She's a former marketing manager who left her job in 2021 to have twins. Four years later, she was ready to re-enter but didn't want to go back to a corporate commute and rigid hours. So she built a portfolio career that now generates about seventy-five thousand dollars a year — roughly what she earned before, but with way more flexibility. Luna: Seventy-five thousand from multiple streams — what are they? Lucas: Three main ones. First, freelance marketing consulting — she works with two small food brands on retainer, about fifteen hours a week. Second, a Substack newsletter focused on pediatric nutrition for busy parents — she writes two posts a week, has about two thousand subscribers, and earns through paid subscriptions and sponsored content. Third, a part-time advisory role at a food startup that's developing toddler-friendly snacks — she meets with them twice a month. Luna: That's a really smart mix. The consulting uses her core marketing skills, the Substack taps into her personal experience as a parent, and the advisory role keeps her connected to the industry. Lucas: Right. And she didn't start with all three at once. She began with just one client on Upwork — a small project that paid seven hundred dollars. That let her rebuild confidence, get a recent reference, and then she added the newsletter and the advisory role over the next six months. Luna: A McKinsey report from last year — 2025 — actually found that thirty-six percent of professionals re-entering the workforce after a gap of two years or more now choose multiple income streams over a single full-time job. That's up from about twenty-two percent pre-pandemic. Lucas: That's a big shift. And I think part of it is that the stigma around having a gap has softened, but also the tools to build a portfolio have gotten way more accessible. You don't need a lot of capital to start a newsletter or find freelance clients. Luna: So for someone listening who's thinking, 'I want to try this route,' what's the first step? How do you even figure out what streams to pursue? Lucas: I'd say start with a skills audit. Priya sat down and listed everything she did in her marketing role — campaign management, content writing, social media strategy, vendor relationships, budget planning. Then she thought about what she actually enjoyed doing and what could be sold as a service. Luna: And she also considered what her network needed. She asked a few former colleagues what they struggled with, and one said they needed help with content calendars. That became her first offering. Lucas: Exactly. So step one: audit your skills and align them with a specific pain point someone will pay for. Step two: test with one small paid project. Don't overthink it. Priya's first project was a seven-hundred-dollar content calendar for a local bakery. That's all. Luna: Step three would be stacking. Once you have one stream earning, add another that's complementary but not identical. In her case, the newsletter grew out of her interest in nutrition — something she was already researching for her kids. Lucas: And the advisory role came from a former colleague who had started a food startup and knew Priya had both marketing expertise and a parent's perspective. So it was almost an inbound opportunity because she'd already put herself out there with the consulting and the newsletter. Luna: That's the beauty of a portfolio — each piece builds visibility and credibility for the others. Your Substack audience can become consulting clients, and your consulting clients might offer you advisory roles. Lucas: Let me also address the financial reality. Seventy-five thousand is a solid target, but it's not instant. Priya's first year she earned about thirty-two thousand. It took eighteen months to hit the seventy-five mark. So patience is part of the deal. Luna: And you need to be comfortable with variable income. Some months she'd earn eight thousand, others maybe four. That can be stressful if you're not prepared with a cash buffer. Lucas: One thing that helped Priya was setting up a separate business bank account and paying herself a 'salary' of three thousand a month from the portfolio earnings. Anything above that went into a buffer for lean months. Luna: That's a smart discipline. Now, what about the 'portfolio career' on a resume or LinkedIn? How do you present that to employers if you later decide to go back to a full-time role? Lucas: You frame it as 'Principal at Priya's Consulting' or 'Independent Marketing Consultant.' List each major stream as a separate role with bullet points. The key is to show consistent work, revenue, and impact. Priya's LinkedIn headline now reads 'Marketing Consultant | Newsletter Writer | Advisor.' It's clear and confident. Luna: And employers actually like seeing that kind of initiative. It shows you can self-manage, juggle multiple priorities, and generate results without a boss hovering. Lucas: Totally. And if you've been out of the workforce for a while, a portfolio career lets you control the pace of re-entry. You can start with ten hours a week, see how it feels, and scale up. That's a lot less pressure than jumping into a sixty-hour-a-week management role. Luna: It's also a way to test a career pivot without quitting a job. Maybe you were in finance before your gap, but you've discovered a passion for writing. You can start a freelance writing gig on the side while you build skills. Lucas: Exactly. And that's actually how a lot of successful portfolio careers start — they begin as a side experiment during the gap and then become the main thing. Luna: Before we go deeper, I want to mention something. We keep this show ad-free because we think that keeps the advice focused and honest. If you find these conversations useful, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to help us keep doing this. Lucas: Yeah, and it really does make a difference. We've had listeners tell us that an episode like this helped them make a career move they were nervous about. So if that resonates, the link is there. No pressure. Luna: Alright, back to it. You mentioned tools — what platforms are actually useful for someone starting a portfolio career today? Lucas: Upwork is still the go-to for landing that first freelance client, though you have to be strategic. Priya recommends starting with small fixed-price projects to build a rating. Once you have a couple of five-star reviews, you can raise your rates. Luna: For the newsletter route, Substack is the obvious choice because it handles subscriptions and payments. But there's also Beehiiv if you want more control over design and monetization. Lucas: For digital products — like templates, guides, or courses — Gumroad is simple. Priya created a 'Marketing Calendar Template for Small Businesses' and sells it for nineteen dollars. It's not a huge earner, but it's passive income that adds to the mix. Luna: And for the advisory piece, platforms like AdvisoryCloud or even LinkedIn can connect you with startups looking for part-time advisors. Often those roles are paid with a mix of cash and equity. Lucas: One more tool I want to mention: Notion. Priya uses it as her central hub to track clients, invoices, content calendar, and tasks. It keeps the chaos of multiple streams manageable. Luna: Let's talk about a potential downside. The portfolio career can sometimes feel like you're always working because there's no clear 'off' switch. How do you set boundaries? Lucas: That's real. Priya schedules her consulting work Monday through Wednesday, reserves Thursday for the newsletter, and Friday is flexible — but she stops by five p.m. She also has a separate phone for work calls. The key is to treat each stream as a distinct job with set hours, not as one endless to-do list. Luna: And you need to be disciplined about saying no. It's easy to take on too many clients because you're worried about income dips. But burnout defeats the purpose of having flexibility. Lucas: Yeah, and that's actually why Priya caps her consulting clients at two at a time. She could take on more, but she prioritizes quality of life. Her goal isn't to maximize income — it's to have a sustainable, varied work life that fits around her family. Luna: That's the mindset shift. A portfolio career isn't a hustle culture grind. It's about designing work that fits your life, especially after a gap when your priorities may have changed. Lucas: Exactly. And if you're listening and thinking about re-entering after a gap, I'd say: don't default to the old script. Consider whether a portfolio career could let you ease back in on your own terms. Start small, test one stream, and see where it takes you. Luna: And remember, your gap gave you skills you might not realize — patience, resourcefulness, multitasking. Those are assets in a portfolio career, not liabilities. Lucas: Alright, that's our angle for today. Next episode we'll look at how to use a career gap to launch a nonprofit or social enterprise. Until then, take care.